Magical express to Orlando: Why 4 hours?

[Mintycake]

I read on the Disney site that for international departures, the Magical Express picks you up 4 hours before your flight. We're Canadian, so technically it's international, but when we leave for the US here, it's generally recommended you be at the airport 2 hours prior to your US flight. I'm just thinking if we depart 4 hours before our flight, that's going to be a lot of waiting at the airport. Is there anyone who has experience with this? Does the transfer to the airport really take a long time or something? I thought it was at most a one hour drive?

 

[Alesia]

For an international flight, you need to be at MCO 3 hours before your flight. Security lines can be horrendous there. It's much, much worse than any other airport I've ever seen.

 

[Pkltm]

We are Canadian too, the lines at MCO can be very long. We usually arrive at the airport and browse the shops a bit, then head through security, never seemed too long.

 

[Mintycake]

Ok thanks everyone! Thank goodness we had a flight change and we're now leaving a bit later so we don't have to be up at the crack of dawn to catch the bus!

 

[Missyrose]

I read on the Disney site that for international departures, the Magical Express picks you up 4 hours before your flight. We're Canadian, so technically it's international, but when we leave for the US here, it's generally recommended you be at the airport 2 hours prior to your US flight. I'm just thinking if we depart 4 hours before our flight, that's going to be a lot of waiting at the airport. Is there anyone who has experience with this? Does the transfer to the airport really take a long time or something? I thought it was at most a one hour drive?

It's about 40 minutes to get from Disney property to the airport, but the DME bus will pick up guests from multiple resorts. That sequence of pickups takes time.

 

[Shanti]

I read on the Disney site that for international departures, the Magical Express picks you up 4 hours before your flight. We're Canadian, so technically it's international, but when we leave for the US here, it's generally recommended you be at the airport 2 hours prior to your US flight. I'm just thinking if we depart 4 hours before our flight, that's going to be a lot of waiting at the airport. Is there anyone who has experience with this? Does the transfer to the airport really take a long time or something? I thought it was at most a one hour drive?

Loading the Magical Express bus takes time, and the bus will stop at multiple resorts, not only your resort. Then there is the drive, which might include poor weather or traffic. Then there is the fact the ME now only drops guests off on one side of the terminal, so you might have to transfer internally to the other side. Then there are the miserable MCO security lines...

...and last but not least, there is Disney (partially) responsible for getting all of their resort guests to their flights on time. These guests include families with babies and small kids making multiple potty stops at the airport, disabled guests, etc. So they try to avoid cutting it close.

As a procrastinator, I actually appreciate Disney forcing me to get on the bus early enough that I'm not stressed or in a hurry at the airport on the way home.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Remember that in MCO you at least don't have to clear customs before boarding. But the 4 hours is still a good idea because the lines can be crazy. I do wonder, however, if there are certain times that are better than others. What time does your flight leave?

 

[Mintycake]

Our flight leaves at noon on a Friday.